The Little Oak Tree
by Smyle4Lyfe
Summary: Jem and Scout attempt to contact Boo after he breaks his arm. Dill comes back to Maycomb. Will Boo respond? Will they ever know why he saved them? One-shot, setting at the end of TKAMB. Enjoy!


**Hey everyone! This is a little one-shot I wrote for a school project. The setting is at the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Jem breaks his arm. Enjoy!**

When Jem woke up the next morning, he was groggy and irritable. Cal and I were waiting on him hand and foot, to make sure he was comfortable. Despite Atticus talking to him, he was scared that he wouldn't be able to play football – he'd been stuffing, but what's the use if you can't use one of your arms? Turns out, Jem's fracture was clean – better that way, Dr Reynolds said. Since Jem was still young, it'd heal quick, so long as Jem followed his instructions.

Meanwhile, kids all over town were hearing about his injury and coming over with get-well-soon presents. Miss Maudie came over and brought a massive pound cake for us. Mr Nathan Radley sent over a couple of sports magazines. The Robinsons visited as well – they were sorry that Bob Ewell had gone after Jem and me because of Tom. Atticus said he'd be having none of that, and they left relieved – at least, that's what I thought. Even the Cunninghams sent Walter with a couple of apples, fresh-picked from their tree.

I felt a little bit left out that day. Jem was receiving all the attention, and me, being a nine year-old girl, decided to sulk in the corner for a long time. Atticus saw me and fixed me up.

"Scout, I know you're feeling left out, but once all this blows over, me and you, we'll go down to the store and get you another baton, how about that?" I knew Atticus was only offering so I would stop being moody, but when you're young and you've been bribed, it really doesn't matter, does it?

Jem's cast was all clean and white. It was the talk of the neighbourhood kids for a week after the accident. As soon as he got to school, he was surrounded by admirers – mostly kids Jem didn't even know.

"Jem, hey Jem, can I see?"

"Oh please can I sign it?"

By the end of the day, his entire arm was covered in the scrawlings of illiterates. Most of them were just drawings – happy faces, sad faces, even a couple of crude stick-figures. Jem was happiest about the football team's signatures.

"See, Scout, it means they miss me on the team! Maybe once my arm heals, and if I bulk up enough, Coach'll let me play."

After a couple of days, when the excitement had died down, Jem stayed inside a lot. He refused to come play, saying that "with my broken arm I couldn't do much anyways" and "Dr Reynolds said if I don't use it too much it'll heal faster".

Without Jem, I had taken to talking to Miss Maudie again. She taught me how to bake and prune weeds, and how to care for her flowers. The highlight of my day was taking some freshly-baked wonder of cooking out of Miss Maudie's oven. This continued for weeks, until Jem graduated from cast to splint.

After his release, Jem became increasingly antsy. Atticus saw him looking longingly outside and almost laughed.

"Go outside, Jem." He said.

"I can't, Atticus, my arm ain't healed yet."

"Listen, son. I know you're nervous about taking care of your arm, but let me tell you something. You can't protect yourself from everything. You can't stay inside here until your arm heals completely – you'll go insane. I'm not saying you should go and play football, but you can go outside with your sister."

"But Atticus –"

"No buts. Now get out there and enjoy yourself!"

Jem looked almost relieved that he was being forced to go outside. I followed him out the door and grinned from happiness. Jem looked just as happy to be outside as I was.

"Y'know, Jem, I was thinking that it's a right shame Mr Nathan plugged up that old tree there." I started.

"Why do you say that?" Jem asked. I think he was confused. Now that I had seen Boo, there wasn't much to be scared about when passing the Radley lot.

"Well, remember when we were going to put that note into the tree?" Jem remembered. "When I was walking Boo back to his house that night, I felt bad about not givin' nothin' to him back, you know? He gave us all those nice things but we never did help him out."

"Y'know, Scout, I've been thinkin' about that too. I figured since he'd come out once Boo was going to come out of the house again, be a regular man, see? But he never has. Come to think of it, we've only seen Mr Nathan a couple of times since then." I thought about this for a moment.

"I don't think there's anythin' going on there, Jem. You never got to meet him, but Boo seemed like a real shy guy. He only ever said a couple of words…"

"I wish I would've got to meet him, Scout. Even then, maybe we can give him something for saving us that day?" I thought it was a great idea. Ever since that night, our conduct toward Boo had been gnawing at my mind.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked.

"Seems to me that Boo likes to stay inside. We know that he can whittle, and he won spelling competition when he was younger. That probably means he can read, right?"

"Guess so. But what difference'll that make?"

"Maybe we should write him a note, be all friendly-like. After all, we never tried to contact him once he was in the house." Jem went inside to grab a pencil and paper. Once he came back out, we sat on the porch and Jem started to write. It read:

Dear Mr Arthur Radley,

Thanks for helping us on Halloween. We were right scared until you came along and you're a real nice guy. Also thanks for all the nice stuff you put in your tree. We're sorry it got plugged up. You don't have to come out but we just wanted you to know we're glad you're our neighbour. Also we don't believe any of them rumours about you.

Thanks again

Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch) and Scout (Jean Louise Finch)

P.S. We were wondering if you wanted your stuff back.

Jem signed the letter with a flourish and sat back to admire his handiwork. Suddenly, something came to me.

"Hey Jem, since the tree's plugged up, how're we gonna give him the note?"

"Just 'cause the tree's plugged up doesn't mean we can't give him the note! Now that we know he ain't crazy we can just slide it under his door." Checking to see that Atticus was still reading the newspaper, Jem and I walked down the street until we arrived at the old Radley gate.

"I'll go first." Jem said. He thought he was being courageous, but really, I wasn't even scared. I rolled my eyes and followed him towards the porch. Once we got to the door, Jem bent down and slid the note through the crack. Then he jumped up and walked quickly out of the yard, as if someone would come outside and scream at him.

Days passed and there was no contact from Boo.

"Maybe Mr Nathan took the note before Boo could see it?" Jem suggested.

"I doubt it. Maybe Boo doesn't know what to say. After all, he hasn't really talked to anybody from town all these years." We were occupied with Boo until around Christmas. By then, it had been a couple of months and our interest was fading. Around early December, Atticus surprised us by walking us over to Miss Rachel's house and opening the door to find Dill, grinning there like a clown.

"Hey." He said casually.

"Dill? What are you doing here? Aren't you comin' in the summer?"

"I was gonna." He explained, "but mum said it was okay to move down here for school since I miss Maycomb so much when I'm not here. Aunt Rachel is letting me stay here 'til mum comes down as well." I looked over at Jem, and saw his jaw halfway to the floor. Miss Rachel appeared over Dill's shoulder and laughed at our expressions.

"Well, come on in then! I'm sure Dill has a lot to tell you!" she said, smiling.

Atticus interrupted before Jem and I could run into the house. "Actually, Miss Rachel, it's a school night and Jem and Scout had best be off to bed, if you don't mind."

"Oh, of course, it completely slipped my mind! I guess we'll just have to have you over later, then. Besides, Dill only just got here, and he still has to unpack." We left Ms Rachel's doorstep and walked out into the street. I turned to say goodbye to Dill, and something caught my eye further down the road. I shook Jem's sleeve.

"Jem, did you see something over in that Radley window?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind…I just thought somebody was watchin' us." Jem rolled his eyes and opened our front door.

The next day, Dill's arrival brought a new sense of excitement to the school children of Maycomb. Everyone was surprised and envious that we were already friends with the fascinating new boy – and to top it all, they said, he lived right beside them, in Ms Rachel Haverford's house! Dill enjoyed every minute of attention that he got. I saw Jem on the sidelines, smirking at Dill's obvious enjoyment. The rest of the day passed uneventfully for us.

On our way home, Jem and I hung at the back of Dill's pack and discussed Boo's note again.

"Should we send another one?" I asked.

"I don't know…only thing is, if we do, he might get annoyed and not so anythin' at all. Let's just wait a while. I have a feelin' he'll say somethin' soon."

"Anyways, now that Dill's here, we should let him know what's goin' on." We arrived at the main road and Dill was there waiting for us. His pack had seperated and gone home.

"Hey Scout, Jem." he said. On our way home, we explained our attempts to contact Boo and the adventures on Halloween. By the time we got to Miss Rachel's, Dill's eyes were wide and his eyes were shining. We left him like that on his doorstep and continued on to our own home.

As soon as Jem opened the door, I realized that I had dropped the ball of twine that Boo gave us on our way home.

"Jem, I'll be right back. I left something back near the school." I jogged back up the street and noticed my ball of twine sitting near the Radley fence, where we had originally found it. I bent down to pick it up and accidentally looked through the fence – there was a large, circular hole in the ground beside the treasure tree! I jumped back and ran home.

"Jem!" I said, breathless from running, "Jem, come look! There's a hole in the ground!" Jem looked at me, confused. Then he followed me out the door and back up the street. Back home, Jem asked Dill to come over and told him about our newest development.

"That's real odd. Maybe Boo buried stuff there a long time ago and just wants to dig 'em up again? Like a dog." He suggested.

"Boo ain't no animal, Dill." I said angrily. "Just 'cause he stays inside all the time don't mean he's an animal." We withdrew into silence, thinking. Suddenly Jem said:

"What if he's buryin' somebody? What if the hole's a grave?"

"That's stupid, Jem! The hole's round. Everybody knows you can't bury nobody in a round grave. And who in their right mind would dig a grave right beside the street?"

"They say he ain't in his right mind, Scout. I wouldn't be, stuck inside like him."

"He _ain't _crazy!" Dill looked nervously at our glowering faces. Then he spoke up.

"Jem, it ain't a grave." He said gently. "Guess we'll just have to wait 'n see."

The next morning, Jem and I got up extra early to go check out the hole. Atticus was still in the kitchen when we came pounding down the stairs.

"Well, aren't you two up early today? Where's the fire?" he chuckled. We didn't answer, racing out the door to meet Dill at his house. The three of us walked slowly up the street, suddenly nervous. We neared the fence and, as if synchronized, we looked over at the same second. Then Jem laughed.

"Why, it ain't nothin' but a little tree! Miss taught us the name for baby trees – a sapling, she said." Jem was grinning and looking from the sapling to our faces.

"Well, it definetely isn't a grave." Dill said seriously. Then we were rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically, tears pouring out of our eyes in mirth. Every time we managed to hiccup ourselves back to sanity, a small giggle would set us all off again. I was wiping my eyes when I saw a flutter behind Jem's back.

"Jem, what's that behind you?" I asked, suddenly serious. Jem bent down and picked up a white envelope.

"It's from Boo." He said, amazed.

"What's it say? Read it out loud." Jem cleared his throat and opened the letter.

Dear Miss Jean Louise, and Misters Jeremy and Charles:

First of all, everything you found in the tree is now yours. I placed it there so that you children could enjoy the very same things that made my childhood so special. Cherish them, for they will bring you amazing memories. As to the thanks, none is needed. In fact, the recognition for a job well done should be given to you three wonderful, energetic children. So from a world-weary man: thank you. Thank you for showing me that there are still people out there; young children with love in their heart and many, many bright dreams for the future. Beside you now is an oak tree; it symbolizes strength and courage. It is everything I wish for you children. One day, the tree will grow tall and strong, and it will shade passers-by. Maybe, one day you can come back to your hometown and show your own children how a small sapling can grow into the very largest and strongest of trees. I wish you all the luck in the future.

Sincerely,

Arthur Radley

Jem's voice quieted at the end of the letter. He slowly folded it up and placed it carefully back into its envelope. Being children, we didn't understand the immenseness of what Boo had just said. Quietly, we made our way down the street towards school.

A mockingbird sang in the distance.

**There you have it! The 32****nd**** chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird. Review, and check out my other stories! **


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